We’re running down several trailers released to start off San Diego Comic-Con this week. One trailer defines what Comic-Con is all about, as Stan Lee looks at the Netflix series based on his creations. The best trailer is Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, the fantasy director’s next monster movie, this time featuring his own take on the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Another good trailer is what plays out as a commercial for the giant robot “Jaegers” in a first look at the sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising, including star John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Attack the Block). Below you’ll also find trailers for Kingsman: The Golden Circle,The LEGO Ninjago Movie, Natalie Portman in Planetarium, and the fantasy world version of the AlienNation buddy cop trope, Netflix’s Bright, starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton.

We’re also including several trailers from the past week to get you caught up. These include A Wrinkle in Time, Mary Poppins Returns, Blade Runner 2049, a teaser for The Incredibles 2 (sort of), and a Blu-ray preview for Gifted starring Chris Evans.

One of the most fascinating tidbits about fantasy/horror director Guillermo del Toro in the new hardcover book Guillermo del Toro: At Home With Monsters is that del Toro grew up in a collecting home. His father had won the lottery. The details aren’t discussed, but after reading this book, which focuses on one of del Toro’s homes where he displays a collection of fantasy and horror memorabilia, any read would ask where would someone get the money to buy all these things. The closest comparison would be Michael Jackson’s purchase of oddities like Joseph Merrick’s bones. Jackson had billions, but del Toro, whose career has only taken off since the 1990s, has amassed a collection that doesn’t reflect that extreme level of purchasing yet. But he’s on his way.

Guillermo del Toro is known for his visions of fantasy horror as seen in his Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Mimic, Crimson Peak, and even the beginnings of The Hobbit trilogy. Many are unaware of his creepy home full of fantasy and horror relics that he calls Bleak House. Think of the beginning of an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater or Friday the 13th TV series or that shop where an old man found a Mogwai for his son in Gremlins and you’ll have an idea of the oddities to be found.

No, that’s not the actual Ray Harryhausen with del Toro (we hope), but you have to wonder if Vincent Price had something to do with getting this frozen fellow into del Toro’s collection.

Some of the purchases on display are unique, some rare, but most appear to be mass market items, books, toys, statues, action figures. They cram the rooms of his house much like many people you know who have an obsession with collecting. Sure, del Toro’s house may be creepier than most–custom mannequins of horror greats like H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Harryhausen and Edgar Allen Poe appear to be living in this lair–but Bleak House does not look like anyone actually lives there. A retreat for storing research materials seems more likely. Could anyone, even a fan of all these monsters, wake up everyday to a gigantic head of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s monster?

An unusual art exhibition premiered this month in Los Angeles at the L.A. County Museum of Art, and it is being expanded into a book available later this month. Director Guillermo del Toro is known for his visions of fantasy horror as seen in his Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Mimic, Crimson Peak, and even the beginnings of The Hobbit trilogy. Many are unaware of his creepy home full of fantasy and horror relics that he calls Bleak House. Think of the beginning of an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater or Friday the 13th TV series or that shop where an old man found a Mogwai for his son in Gremlins and you’ll have an idea of the oddities to be found.

Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters is a companion to the exhibition of artworks purchased by del Toro and featured in his strange home. The book includes photographs, pages from his journals, and interviews with the director and other art connoisseurs. The book promises to provide an engrossing look into the mind of one of the truly unique storytellers of today.

Below, after the break, is a preview of pages from At Home With Monsters. It is available now for pre-order here from Amazon.com.

The last vestiges of The New 52 seem to be fleeting in light of DC Comics’ Rebirth superhero universe reset. Back in 2011 we at borg.com were reading and reviewing every monthly from the New 52 we could get our hands on. One of the most compelling and creative of those series was Justice League Dark, a further spin-off from the likes of Justice League of America, Justice League Europe, Justice League International, Justice League and JLA.

Justice League Dark was, as the title suggests, a darker band of superpowered characters from the DCU. Spanish artist Mikel Janin was tasked with re-imagining the look of these characters, and he pulled it off brilliantly. We interviewed Mikel about the new look here at borg.com back in March 2012. The JLD included Zatanna, Constantine, Deadman, Shade, Madame Xanadu, Swamp Thing, and the Enchantress, and more as they would emerge throughout the series’ short 40 issue run.

Guillermo del Toro had been involved for a few years with a live action version of the JLD that never seemed to spring away from the development stage. Now because of a feature listing on the Blu-ray from Batman: The Killing Joke, an animated version is likely further along than had been previously disclosed by DC.

Last month we offered our review of Guillermo del Toro’s new gothic film, Crimson Peak, raving over its atmosphere and performances. Since it won’t be released in a home-viewing format for a while yet, how are we supposed to refresh our Crimson Peak fix until then?

Read the movie tie-in novel, of course!

Crimson Peak by veteran horror author Nancy Holder is a dead ringer for its onscreen counterpart, offering a scene-by-scene text recreation of the film. But Holder often goes deeper, offering perspectives from characters not fully expressed on screen, elaborating on the story’s emotional arc, and adding to the haunting atmosphere with her own nuanced, sometimes surprising voice.

If you’ve seen the film, there’s nothing new here. At times the book feels flat, as if the words alone can’t live up to the actors’ performances, and the author was required to give as close a blow-by-blow account as possible. But in other moments, Holder’s own prose shines:

It watched the house’s breath scatter the dry leaves that drifted in, drifted by. The walls were bleeding from fissures in the wallpaper. Stab wounds, or a razor blade drawn across a vein? Moths flew out; maggots fed. The mad head of the house was rotting, and night was dragging her wings across the moon, tracing filigree on the floor. In the attic, more black moths were dancing because it was cold, because it was dark. Because they were hungry.

For the butterfly.

Oooh, shivery!

The biggest challenge here is the same minor plot weakness that caused the film to stumble a bit at the end. With so much glorious setup, with the fantastic otherworldly intervention of the supernatural–which is what drew us to this story, after all!–Crimson Peak deserves a bigger payoff, a less predictable and mundane explanation for all the horror. But Holder actually manages the material a little more deftly than it appeared on screen; the pacing is more dread-inducing as she doles it out piecemeal. We already know what’s happening, and yet the book’s buildup is better than the film’s letdown. Whatever Holder can’t render as stunningly via prose (del Toro’s visionary ghosts), she makes up for in suspense.

Think again! In his latest effort to scare and transport his audiences, Crimson Peak, del Toro has conjured up a true Gothic world of Victorian elegance, tender romance, and Sherlockian sleuthing… With some slimy creatures. Which are also, strange as it may sound, beautifully executed.

No doubt about it, del Toro is a visionary. Despite some clear aesthetic leanings, his film repertoire is surprisingly diverse, from 1997’s Mimic to 2013’s Pacific Rim. His films are always rich in detail and visually stunning. And this time he just happened to hit all the right notes for this particular viewer.

Crimson Peak is the tale of young American heiress and authoress Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska, Alice in Wonderland), deeply skeptical of the British aristocracy… until she’s won over by the ambitious, earnest baronet Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston, Thor, Avengers, The Hollow Crown), who is trying to secure financing for a risky mining venture to extract red clay from beneath his crumbling family mansion. Though Edith’s father nurses doubts about the man and his motives, his own untimely death frees up both the young woman—and her fortune. Swept off her feet, she is whisked off to Cumberland, England and the less-than-enchanting family home, the gorgeously decrepit Allerdale Hall.

She must share her new life with her sister-in-law Lucille (Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty), in the archetypal role of unwelcoming Gothic housekeeper. She knows all the family secrets, and keeps them from her young, impressionable sister-in-law. It’s a powerhouse performance, captivating and creepy, and Chastain inhabits the role perfectly. Continue reading →

Back in February we previewed the first look at Guillermo del Toro’s next reported masterpiece, a Victorian gothic romance with ghosts called Crimson Peak. It will finally hit theaters next week and today we have even more previews and cool featurettes from this nicely timed Halloween horror flick.

In Crimson Peak, Gothic haunts like Rebecca and Jane Eyre, meet Watcher in the Woods, The Others, Psycho, and Skeleton Key, with director del Toro amping up the gore and violence. We don’t often see fantasy horror releases but you can be sure del Toro is a master of the genre. And it adds another movie to that sub-genre of horror we keep talking about featuring creepy little girls.

Not for the faint of heart, check out this trailer and featurettes for Crimson Peak, after the break:

But unlike previous Gothic haunts like Rebecca, Jane Eyre, Watcher in the Woods, The Others, or Wolfman, genre favorite director del Toro is amping up the gore and violence in Crimson Peak, his latest and–reportedly–the greatest of his trademark visually spectacular fantasies so far.

And it adds another movie to that sub-genre of horror we keep talking about featuring creepy little girls.

Not for the faint of heart, check out this trailer for Crimson Peak, after the break:

Two new deluxe edition books for fans of two of the biggest animated franchises around are now available. Abrams Books has just released Adventure Time: The Art of Ooo, by Chris McDonnell, and The Simpsons Family History, by Matt Groening.

Adventure Time: The Art of Ooo is a look at the creative process behind the hit Cartoon Network television series. Full of storyboards and concept art, the Art of Ooo traces the evolution of Finn the Human and Jake the Dog as they traverse the dense fantasy land of Ooo.

Fantasy and horror director Guillermo de Toro provides the introduction to this lavish, full color, coffee table-style volume. Fans of the series will appreciate access to the show bible and decisions behind the unusual artwork and character designs. Why do they look this way (eyes with dots and eyes without dots–it’s all for a reason)? You’ll find out here.

Lovers of the animation process will appreciate original notes, sketches and planning materials used throughout the series. What fans of any series wouldn’t love this kind of look behind the scenes? Great interviews with artists, music composers, and voice actors will make this a read fans won’t want to pass up.

If you haven’t yet caught sight of the El Rey network on your cable line-up, make sure you stop and check it out. From the mind of pulp film director Robert Rodriquez, known best for his Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Spy Kids, the Sin City movies, Grindhouse’s Planet Terror, and Machete, the El Rey network is a recently developed partnership between Rodriquez and Univision being picked up across the U.S. by Time Warner Cable, Comcast, and DirecTV, certain to have something entertaining for any fan of all-things-retro. It’s tagline provides the short version of what you’ll find: Where fans, aficionados and rebels come for their fix of bullets, blood and curated classics. Its target is English-speaking Latino audiences, but it has a much broader appeal.

El Rey is the newest home for grindhouse movies, kung fu and other tough guy flicks, cult horror, and retro/classics. Shows include tailored commercials and intentionally worn and grainy “bumpers” to give a dated feel, with familiar-sounding voiceover actors that highlight the series’ gritty and retro themes. You’ll find classic series like The X-Files, Miami Vice, and Starsky and Hutch, and movies like John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, Steven Spielberg’s Duel, and kung-fu features like The Kid With the Golden Arm.

The best from the network so far is original programming like The Director’s Chair, where director Robert Rodriquez interviews some of our favorite genre moviemakers. The first guest in the series was John Carpenter, one of borg.com‘s all-time favorite directors, known best for Halloween, but also for Escape from New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Fog, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and They Live. Rodriquez’s interview is a treat for Carpenter fans, providing insight and anecdotes from Carpenter chatting about his films. And Rodriquez, who seems a young director at 46, goes all fanboy throughout his interview, which you rarely see in shows like this. It works here, because if you’re watching this type of show you’re likely a fanboy or fangirl, too.